Science Project
by 10th Muse
Summary: A Friendly Hotch and Emily Short Story...takes place after The Angel Maker.


Story takes place after Season 4, Episode 2 The Angel Maker.

Disclaimer – I do not own any characters on the TV show Criminal Minds. It would be cool if I do. But, please enjoy!

Thank you, Guest reviewer for noting my mistake! Corrected! :p

 **Criminal Minds**

 **One Shot Story – Science Project**

 **.**

.

He was at her doorstep on Sunday morning with two tall steaming coffee and a box of cheese danish. He knew she slept in on Sundays as it was their only free full day.

He had made it back to Virginia late last night and for a while contemplated on swinging by her place but in the end, he was beat and barely had energy left to crash in his apartment.

But come morning at 6, his eyes were opened!

And he could not return to sleep, try as he wanted, Hotch tossed and turned. His body just refused to co-operate with him.

With a frustrated grunt, he flipped his covers aside and went into his bathroom.

He should not have looked at his reflection; it was no better than he looked a couple of days ago. Hell, he had been looking like that since...New York, since Kate died.

He thought sadly of his friend and former colleague and shook his head.

He decided he might as well take a shower since sleep eluded him.

As he felt the hot water streamed, he recalled Emily barging in on him and he smiled over the incident; he did shock her.

He chuckled as he also remembered her stunned expression when he stepped out of his shower dripping wet.

Of course he felt bad after and apologized.

But what happened since then, was something quite hazy as he woke up in his bed with a fantastic hungover and his apartment was cleaned; he knew he had quite a few too many Scotch...

Pulling over a pair of clean Tees and sweats, he decided he needed to run.

.

An hour later, he found himself in Emily's neighborhood and her apartment.

"You had better be the best looking paperboy or I'm gonna shoot you point-blank." Emily muttered as she opened her door, eyes bleary, her robe half hung about her body as she leaned against the door.

Barely focused, she blinked at the offering held to her eye level and groaned, "What's this supposed to be?"

"Breakfast."

"It's still dark, Hotch. Go away."

"The sun's up, and it's been up for a while."

"Wait, you made it home?"

He nodded, "Last night."

"You should be resting."

"I can't sleep."

"You can't sleep, so you went for a run early in the morning and now you're here with breakfast." Without waiting for his reply she turned around and plodded into her apartment as Hotch followed her with the food.

He glanced around and frowned slightly; he had never been into her apartment before, and at the moment, it looked as if a war zone had happened!

"What happened?" He placed the two cups and the box on the kitchen counter and walked further into the apartment and began to look around.

Clothes were scattered about the couch and the back of the couch, shoes were scattered ever where and glasses and alcohol bottles of every kind were laying about the floor of the carpet by the low table and near the trash can which was filled to the brim.

"Did you have a late night party? Or were you robbed?"

"Urgh..." She waved her arms about before she fell on the couch.

He raised an eyebrow as he saw she had a small pillow over her face.

He grinned, "I take it as a yes to the first...how was it?"

"Ummm"

"That exciting." He nodded. "So, who was at this wild party?" He spread his hand all over around her living room.

"Jjf...Grrhhh"

He chuckled as he took a sip of his coffee. "Just them?"

"Unmm"

He nodded, "Girls night, I see."

"I hope they did not drive home."

"Mgore..afoge ...ofhs"

He frowned for a bit before he nodded and walked over to join her.

"Here's your joe." He held out a tall Styrofoam cup. "It's from Hank's"

She slipped pillow from her face and stared at him, "Hank?"

He nodded and held it up for her to see.

"Why?"

He tilted his head, "Why what?"

She scooted up and took the cup from him, and drank, closing her eyes to savor the heavenly brew, "Hmm, he makes the best." She moaned as she gulped another mouthful. "Thanks Hotch."

He shook his head, "No thanks necessary."

She turned to look at him, "You still haven't told me."

He shrugged, "I did, I was in the neighborhood."

This time she took in his attire, "Yeah, you've been out jogging."

He nodded.

"But you just got home from Ohio."

"I got home last night." He corrected her.

"And?"

"I couldn't sleep, went for a jog, and ended up in your neighborhood."

She watched him for a moment. "Hotch, we live about twenty blocks from each other."

He shrugged, "Piece of cake."

She shook her head, "Whatever." She looked closer at him. "Wait...some thing is bugging you. What is it?"

"I don't know. It's the case in Ohio." He shook his head as he stood up and paced. "You seem pretty familiar with Astronomy, a little more than Reid, about the stars."

She looked away from him, "It's Cosmology."

"What? Chloe Kelcher's make up? I don't recall her wearing any."

She shook her head and instantly regretted it as she groaned.

He grinned, "Should have stayed away from those jello shots."

"But I like 'em."

"You can't take them, especially the Triple Jägermeister and Dragonball jello shots." He laughed, she glared. "How many?"

She slowly shook her head and held her hand and indicated three fingers.

He raised his eyebrows, "It's a wonder you're still alive. What about JJ and Garcia?"

"JJ had two, and Garcia had one."

He chuckled, "So you were the bravest and the stupidest."

"That's not a word, Hotch." She leaned her head against the back of the couch.

"In your instance, it is."

"Ass."

"So, feel like going to the park with me?"

"No...just go away."

"Not even if I have Jack with us?" He leaned in closer.

Instantly perked, "Can we go to one with the hippo bouncer?"

He nodded, and his dimples deepen, "Yeah, I guess we can swing over there."

"And afterward, we can have banana splits with triple whipped cream topped with double chopped nuts and two cherries?" She begged shamelessly.

He stared at her, "You're breaking my bank account, Prentiss."

"But you're loaded." She whined.

"So are you." He countered. "Look at all the shoes you keep buying every other week!"

"I don't have any kids." She stood up and began to move to her room while he waited on her couch.

"You could adopt Jack." He teased.

She stopped and turned around, "Don't tempt me, Hotch. I might do that!"

He stared at her and shook his head, "Will you just go brush your teeth? They reek."

She blinked and turned back to her bathroom.

…...

After they dropped Jack off to Haley that evening, the two received a call from JJ; they had an urgent case.

"I'll drop you off at your apartment." Emily said as he lowered his phone.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'll see you at BAU in an hour."

"I had a great time, thanks."

"So did I, and Jack." He nodded.

"By the way," Emily began they were near his apartment building. "When I was ten, I won first place in the science fair in middle school, mapping out the entire constellation of the Northern Hemisphere."

He glanced at her before he nodded, "I see, that was why you recalled the markings on the vics' bodies."

She nodded, "Yeah, the dots come back to me."

"I'm glad you made the connections."

"Yeah, me too."

She pulled up alongside the parking space.

"I'll see you in an hour." He climbed out of the passenger side.

"Yeah, again thanks for the banana split. And I'm sorry for spilling that chocolate on your shirt, Hotch."

He looked down and shrugged, "It'll wash off, Prentiss."

She nodded and drove off.

…...

Back at Quantico, in the 'war room'.

"Sorry to ruin your Sunday evening, guys." JJ uttered.

"Not a problem." Hotch nodded, "Let's brief on the case, everyone."

JJ nodded as she picked up the clicker, "Montclaire, Virginia..."

"Hey," Derek cut in. "That's not far from us."

JJ gave him a grim smile, "Uh, yes, it's outside the city on I-95 about 20 miles south. Two bodies found in an abandon warehouse."

"Why are we involved?" Rossi looked up from his tablet.

"Vicksburg PD has requested our assistance because technically this was their fifth and sixth bodies, in a week. The first two in Vicksburg, next two in Fairfax, and now Montclaire."

"Lucky for you Hotch, no flying involved." She muttered, not looking up from her tablet.

Hotch glanced at her and nodded before turning his attention back to JJ, "Same method of death?"

JJ nodded as she continued her briefing, " Yes, they were blundgeoned...

…...

The End

.

A/N ….Just to clarify some confusion on this one shot and a few others I had posted lately, no, Hotch and Emily are not romantically involved at this point or ever, except in one (Second Chance) This is just a generic one shot story; something for me to 'play' around their characters how they evolve throughout the series. Yes, I'm trying to come up with a multi-chap. story but I'm hitting a dry-spell at the moment. So bear with me on these random one shots!

.

10th Muse.


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